Below is a collection of Tu B’Shvat lesson plans, interactive tools, and articles created by The Lookstein Center staff or contributed to the site by Jewish educators.

TU B’SHVAT Holiday overview

What is Tu B’Shvat?

Tu B’Shvat ( ט״ו בשבט) takes place on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat (in 2020, Tu B’Shvat begins at sunset on February 9 and ends in the evening of February 10). It is also called “Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot” (ראש השנה לאילנות), or the “New Year of the Trees,” one of the four “new years” established by the Rabbis of the Talmud (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1). It marks the start of Spring in Israel, where trees begin to bloom.

How is Tu B’Shvat Celebrated?

Tu B’Shvat is celebrated by eating the fruits of the land of Israel (mainly the seven species: pomegranate, olive, date, fig, grape, wheat, and barley) and learning about how to protect the Earth. Tu B’Shvat has become the unofficial “Earth Day” of Israel where ecological advancements are discussed and celebrated and there is a tradition to plant trees in Israel for Tu B’Shvat. It is also customary to eat new fruits that you have not tasted before (or have not tasted yet this year) and to say the Shehecheyanu blessing. Tu B’Shvat has also become a symbolic date for restoring the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Starting in the Middle Ages with Rabbi Isaac Luria (also known as the “Ari’zal”), the tradition of hosting a “Tu B’Shvat Seder” was born. This tradition has grown in popularity in recent years.

What is a Tu B’Shvat Seder?

A Tu B’Shvat seder is modeled after a Passover seder, including cups of wine or grape juice and blessings. A Tu B’Shvat seder involves eating fruit and nuts, usually following a set order or special haggadah. Some examples of Tu B’Shvat seders can be found below.

Lesson Plans

Online Scavenger Hunt Lesson for Tu B’Shvat – This interactive slideshow from The Lookstein Center teaches students in grades 3-8 about Tu B’Shvat customs and history.Social Action and Responsibility: Taking Care of Our Planet – This lesson, part of a larger unit from The Lookstein Center for grades 9-12, demonstrates the Jewish textual obligation to take care of the planet and its creatures. By Mark Rosenberg. Make it Grow App – An interactive online app from Jewish Interactive which teaches students about the importance of protecting the environment.Celebrating Tu B’Shevat – This collection of resources from the Israel Forever Foundation includes stories, activities, and more. (Submitted by Aviva Karasik).

QUICK ACTIVITIES FROM THE LOOKSTEIN CENTER

Organize a Jewish Environmental Fair: Invite students and their families to a Tu B’shvat fair that promotes a greener environment. Ask environmental organizations that encourage composting, recycling, gardening, etc, to exhibit. Invite a Jewish farmer or Jewish organizations like the Jewish National Fund, Neot Kedumim and Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life to make presentations. Include a Jewish education element focusing on ba’al tashchit, shmittah, or tzaar baalei chaim. Be creative: include demonstrations on water-wise lawn care, organic gardening, and test drives of hybrid or electric cars. Organize craft activities that only use recycled products like puppet-making, sculpting with recycled materials, etc. Encourage carpooling/biking to the fair, and only use biodegradable, recycled products for food and drink.

Reduce your school’s carbon footprint/environmental impact: Brainstorm with your students ten ways in which your Jewish school can reduce its environmental impact (i.e. turning down the heat, leaving the lights off, decreasing photocopying, encouraging carpooling, etc.). Divide the class into groups and assign one idea to each group. Each group should develop a marketing campaign to promote their ideas. The campaign’s may include powerpoint presentations, computer graphics, videos, etc. Then implement the best ideas

Clean up a local forest: Contact your local parks authority and ask if your class can volunteer to pick up rubbish and clean a local park/forest. Before the clean up, learn about Tu B’Shvat with your students and explain that this is the day we honor the trees and the environment.

Film a Short Documentary about Judaism and the Environment:Explain to your class that you are going to be filming a documentary about Judaism and the environment. Let them decide the focus but make sure it is a narrow enough topic to cover in a short documentary. Identify individuals in the community who are experts on the topic (parks/recycling authority professionals, academics, journalists) and who will agree to be interviewed by your students. In class, write up interview questions. Students should film the interviews and take local footage that highlights the problem. Watch the interviews with the students and identify topics that relate to Judaism, for instance: ba’al tashchit (wasteful destruction), tzaar baalei chaim (avoiding cruelty to animals), etc. Study the chosen text/s with the students and lead a discussion on how that relates to your documentary topic. Students should write up a short dvar torah on the topic. Presentations of divrei torah should also be filmed. Students weave together the interviews and the divrei torah to create a brief documentary. Arrange a screening for the school/parents. Note: standard phone cameras can be used – there is no need for expensive video equipment.

Organize an Environmentally-Friendly Shabbat meal/Shabbaton the Week Before Tu B’Shvat: Try to make the event as environmentally-friendly as possible: Issue email invitations to the event, use locally grown produce to make the meals, use biodegradable goods and arrange learning activities that explain how the Torah views the environment. Plan a kumzitz (sing-along) that includes songs about trees, responsibility, etc.

Get Down and Dirty: Invite a gardener or landscaper to work with your students to plant flowers/trees/bushes on your school’s property. Students should research your climate zone and see what will grow, draw up a plan, and plant on Tu B’Shvat! Invite parents to participate.

Recycled Orchard:Highlight the importance of trees by making a colorful orchard out of recycled materials to decorate your classroom. Brainstorm with your class: what do trees provide? Answers: food, shelter for animals, wood for building, shade from the sun, etc. Now build an orchard with recycled materials to demonstrate these uses. For example: painted, flattened cereal boxes for the ground; painted toilet paper rolls for tree trunks; green construction paper scraps for the tree tops; colorful bits of tissue paper for fruits; twigs and branches to build ladders and fences. Glue the trees on the ground and the fruit on the trees. Arrange toy people picking the fruit and toy animals living in the trees.

QUICK ACTIVITIES FROM AREYVUT

Start an environment club in your school or synagogue.

Decorate reusable items. Brainstorm disposable items that can be easily replaced with reusable items. Choose one of the items on your list to decorate and distribute to community members or to sell as a fundraiser. Suggested items include: reusable shopping bags, plastic lunch boxes, hard plastic refillable water bottles, mugs, and placemats

Host a “litterless” lunch. Invite students to a “litterless” lunch to be served on all recycled products. Encourage participants to bring natural foods that do not have wrappers and to think creatively as to how to prepare and transport their foods. For example, use lunch boxes instead of paper bags, containers instead of sandwich bags and thermoses instead of drink boxes or water bottles.

Take a trip to your local recycling plant. Bring a bin from your school or synagogue straight to the plant. Students will be able to follow their recyclables into the first steps of becoming reusable.

Donate a tree in Israel in honor of someone special. Since your local environment benefits from trees planted all around the world, this is the perfect opportunity to help beautify and restore Israel. Encourage your family, friends and colleagues to join in your efforts by setting up a contest to see who can donate the most trees in Israel.

Volunteer at a local park or forest. Contact a local park ranger to find out how you can help sustain the trees in your area. Inquire whether or not you are able to help care for the trees and ask how your help may be needed to advocate on their behalf in the local community.

Learn how to desalinate ocean water to make it fit for use. 97% of the water on Earth is ocean water, but ocean water, along with all other salt water, is not considered fit for human use. Learn more here and consider the possible pros and cons of using a desalination system to maintain our water supply.

Simple ways to help the environment:

Fix a leaky faucet.

Turn off the lights when you leave the room.

Read a book about the environment.

Take a hike and pick up litter along the way

.Have a picnic at a nearby pond and clean up its shore.

Take a trip to the local zoo or wildlife refuge.

Purchase a tree from a local nursery and plant it in your yard.

Make a donation to save an endangered species.

Make a resolution to limit the use of animal products.

Adopt a pet from your local animal shelter.

Buy non-toxic cleaning products.

Buy from a local farm.

Start a compost heap.

Take the bus to school instead of driving.

Arrange a carpool for yourself and your friends.

Turn off any appliances you are not using.

Unplug your charger when it is done charging.

Turn your thermostat up or down one degree (depending on the weather!).